Scottish Executive

Childcare

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to address the "significant variation in throughcare and aftercare arrangements across Scotland" as highlighted in its Central Research Unit report, Scotland's Children: Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Research Findings No.3 - A Study of Throughcare and Aftercare Services in Scotland .

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to produce more specific aims, objectives and timescales for throughcare and aftercare services in order to provide greater standardisation in provision across all local authorities.

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the "lack of adequate" data collection and processing systems for monitoring and evaluating the number of young people eligible for care services, as highlighted in its Central Research Unit report , Scotland's Children: Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Research Findings No.3 - A Study of Throughcare and Aftercare Services in Scotland , will be addressed.

Cathy Jamieson: As a result of the findings of that report the expert Throughcare and Aftercare Working Group is focussing on how to improve current services across Scotland. They will report to me in August with their recommendations.

Childcare

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it defines as a recognised childcare qualification.

Cathy Jamieson: Annex A of the National Care Standards for Early Education and Childcare up to the Age of 16 recognises somebody as being qualified in childcare if they hold any one of the qualifications mentioned in the booklet Working With Children- A Guide to Qualifications and Careers in Early Education, Childcare & Playwork .

Childcare

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to attract more people to become foster parents.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive values the role played by foster carers. However, it is for local authorities to consider whether there are sufficient foster carers in their area to provide the type of care required. I met recently with members of the Fostering Network to discuss a range of issues concerning foster care.

Children

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what amounts and percentage of the changing children’s services fund have been allocated in the current financial year to (a) statutory, (b) voluntary and (c) partnership projects, broken down by local authority.

Cathy Jamieson: Allocations for each local authority area (2002-03) are noted in the table. Proposals have been received against all 32 allocations. The overall aim of the Changing Children’s Service Fund is to encourage better integration of all resources available for children’s services across the statutory and voluntary sectors. Proposals are therefore expected to demonstrate evidence of genuine partnership working across these sectors.

  


Local Authority 
  

Allocation 2002-03
(£000's) 
  




Aberdeen City 
  

871 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

1,123 
  



Angus 
  

539 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

463 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

258 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

814 
  



Dundee City 
  

910 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

675 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

343 
  



East Lothian 
  

408 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

300 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

1,966 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

173 
  



Falkirk 
  

688 
  



Fife 
  

1,712 
  



Glasgow City 
  

4,488 
  



Highland 
  

1222 
  



Inverclyde 
  

483 
  



Midlothian 
  

380 
  



Moray 
  

406 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

823 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

1,747 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

116 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

638 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

928 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

515 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

148 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

514 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

1,513 
  



Stirling 
  

416 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

632 
  



West Lothian 
  

787 
  



Scotland 
  

27,000

Children's Hearings System

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the actual number and nature was of the serious crimes referred to by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in his evidence to the Justice 2 Committee on 18 June 2002 as having been referred to the children’s hearing system last year.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of offences registered per child in the 40 offence classifications has not been collected previously. SCRA’s new information technology system, which is currently being rolled out, is now collecting this data. Relevant material will be developed and published in due course.

  As the Deputy First Minister made clear in his evidence, the decision on which cases to refer to the children’s hearings system is a matter for the Lord Advocate, who exercises his discretion independently of ministers. The Lord Advocate’s guidelines list the offences to be reported to the prosecutor fiscal for consideration of prosecution in either the High Court of Justiciary or the sheriff court. These include murder, attempted murder, rape, firearm offences, assault to sever injury amongst many others and any other offence which in the opinion of the Chief Constable is so serious to warrant the instruction of solemn proceedings by the Lord Advocate in the public interest. These guidelines apply to children as defined in the Children (Scotland ) Act 1995.

Children's Hearings System

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to enhance the capability of Reporters to Children’s Panels to research trends in juvenile crime.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) currently monitors and reports on statistics and trends in offending by children and young people. The new Referrals Administration Database system will enhance SCRA’s ability to investigate these trends.

Children's Hearings System

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when records held by Reporters to Children’s Panels will be fully computerised.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) will have introduced, by December 2002, an electronic case-processing system (The Referral Administration Database – RAD) for all referrals to the reporter. At present the RAD is rolled out to 85% of SCRA’s offices.

Communities Scotland

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3541 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 June 2001, what steps it will take to ensure that Communities Scotland complies fully with its  Code of Practice for Tenant Participation in Stock Transfers in relation to any transfer of Scottish Homes properties to other social landlords in the Central Scotland parliamentary region.

Ms Margaret Curran: Communities Scotland does not have a landlord role, therefore there is no obligation to comply with the Code of Practice for Tenant Participation in Stock Transfers . Scottish Homes does encourage tenant participation in the transfer process; methods of consultation are put in place to satisfy tenants’ local preferences.

Communities Scotland

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was made available to local authorities prior to April 2002 to prepare for the regulatory inspections by Communities Scotland.

Ms Margaret Curran: None.

Education

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the teaching of issues surrounding child sexual abuse and domestic violence will be made mandatory in schools.

Cathy Jamieson: In Scotland, the curriculum is not prescribed by statute and delivery is a matter for local authorities and schools. The Scottish Executive’s policy is to ensure that guidance to education authorities and schools and the framework of national qualifications provide opportunities for raising awareness of child sexual abuse and domestic violence at every level of the school curriculum.

  All education authorities in Scotland have guidelines and procedures for child protection to ensure the safety and well being of children and young people and to protect those adults working with them.

  There are no plans to change current policy.

Employment

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to introduce legislation affecting any aspect of employee transfers under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations or the provision and application of the Statement of Practice covering these, and under what section of the Scotland Act 1998 any such powers are conferred.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: Where the right of an employee to transfer is provided by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, it would be outwith the competence of the Scottish Parliament (by virtue of section H1 of part II of schedule 5 to the Scotland Act) to legislate so as to take away any rights to which the employee is entitled under those regulations. In general, it would be within the competence of the Parliament to legislate as to the terms of transfer of particular employees where the transfer is not one to which the 1981 regulations or any other employment legislation covered by section H1 applies.

Employment

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to introduce legislation affecting or protecting the pension rights of employees transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations or the provision of the Statement of Practice covering these, and under what section of the Scotland Act 1998 any such powers are conferred.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: The matter of pensions is in general reserved by virtue of section F3 of part II of schedule 5 to the Scotland Act. However, an exception is made in respect of employees of a Scottish public authority with mixed functions or no reserved functions and the Parliament may therefore legislate as to the pensions payable to such persons.

Foot-and-Mouth

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the Royal Society Inquiry into Infectious Diseases in Livestock will be published.

Ross Finnie: This report has been published today and copies have been made available to the convener and members of the Rural Development Committee. A copy has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. Number 22294) and the report can be viewed on the website of the Royal Society.

Health

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies for consultants in the West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust area there are, broken down by speciality and whether it expects this number to reduce and, if so, how, when and by how much.

Malcolm Chisholm: The responsibility for employing consultants and filling vacant posts rests with the individual Trust. Information on when these posts are likely to be filled is not held centrally but may be held by local NHS management. Contact details for NHS management personnel are available on www.show.scot.nhs.uk .

  The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency (CSA) conducts an annual collection of consultant and staff grade medical and dental vacancies. Consultant vacancies in West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust by speciality as at 30 September, 2001 were:

  


Speciality1


2001 Vacancies 
  



All Specialities 
  

6 
  



Anaesthetics2


1 
  



Clinical radiology 
  

2 
  



Nuclear medicine 
  

0 
  



General surgery 
  

1 
  



Plastic surgery 
  

1 
  



Oral surgery 
  

1 
  



  Source: ISD(M) 4 Medical and Dental Census

  Notes:

  1. Includes honorary appointments.

  2. Includes pain management.

  These data are released under National Statistics.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of delayed discharge patients remain in hospital for longer than six weeks, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is set out in the table.

  NHS – Patients Ready for Discharge Number and Percentage of Patients with a Length of Delay over Six Weeks1 by NHS Board Area of Treatment - as at 15 April 2002

  


NHS Board area of Treatment 
  

Number outwith the six week discharge planning 
  period1


Total2


Percentage outwith the six week discharge 
  planning period 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

334 
  

389 
  

86 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

139 
  

235 
  

59 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

36 
  

51 
  

71 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

25 
  

58 
  

43 
  



Fife 
  

130 
  

175 
  

74 
  



Forth Valley 
  

114 
  

164 
  

70 
  



Grampian 
  

229 
  

334 
  

69 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

290 
  

431 
  

67 
  



Highland 
  

69 
  

86 
  

80 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

129 
  

186 
  

69 
  



Lothian 
  

296 
  

541 
  

55 
  



Orkney 
  

8 
  

12 
  

67 
  



Shetland 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  



Tayside 
  

135 
  

259 
  

52 
  



Western Isles 
  

23 
  

30 
  

77 
  



Scotland 
  

1,957 
  

2,951 
  

66 
  



  Notes:

  1. Number of patients ready for discharge with a duration of over six weeks (43 days or more), i.e. the common period for discharge planning agreement timescales across Scotland.

  2. Total number of patients ready for discharge in all specialties, reported as at 15 April 2002.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support training of primary health care workers.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Education for Scotland (NES), a new Special Health Board, was set up by the Scottish Executive on 1 April 2002 to promote multi-disciplinary training and education for all healthcare professions. This new organisation incorporates the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), the Post Qualification Education Board for Pharmacists (PQEB) and the National Board for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland (NBS), but will also extend its remit to cover those staff groups who do not currently have specific, structured educational support.

  NES supports the training of primary health care workers and, in particular, will be:

  Supporting Continuing Professional Development of all staff; to include-

  Identification of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs of primary care workers caring for people with mild to moderate mental illness.

  Identification of CPD needs of health visitors and school nurses to strengthen their contribution to public health.

  Development of a strategy for CPD in Scottish General Practice.

  Development of an occupational health toolkit for primary care workers.

  Extension of nurse prescribing.

  Introduction of a national recruitment process for GPR and GP VT schemes in Scotland.

  Development of a strategy for GP training in Scotland for the next five to 10 years.

  Supporting development and maintenance of skills of primary care workers in remote and rural areas.

  Supporting access and operation of the Scottish School of Primary Care.

  Research and development activity to support educational provision for primary care.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is provided for the training of primary health care workers.

Malcolm Chisholm: Health boards and NHS trusts are responsible for the training and continuing development of their staff. The policy framework for learning in NHSScotland is provided by Learning Together , the Education, Training and Lifelong Learning Strategy.

  Additional funding for certain primary health care workers is available from a variety of sources, funded both directly and indirectly by the Scottish Executive. The information for 2001-02 is shown in the following tables.

  


Source 
  

2001-02 
  



Via the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental 
  Education (SCPMDE) 
  
 



Doctors 
  

£15,994,000 
  



Dentists 
  

£3,871,000 
  



Via Post Qualification Education Board for National Health 
  Service Pharmacists in Scotland (PQEB) 
  
 



Pharmacists 
  

£247,000 
  



Total 
  

£20,112,000 
  



  


Scottish Executive 
  

Programme 
  

2001-02 
  



Doctors 
  

Post Graduate Education Allowance (PGEA) 
  

£9,800,000 
  


 

Reimbursement of Expenses for Principals on Study Leave 
  

£209,000 
  


 

Locum allowances for single handed GPs in remote and rural 
  areas attending educational courses 
  

£11,000 
  



Dentists 
  

Continual professional development allowances (CPDA)* for 
  registered dental practitioners 
  

£192,473 
  



Professions complementary to Dentistry (PCD) 
  

Additional training and education 
  

£1.6 million over three years 
  



Nurses 
  

Training to support recommendations of Nursing for Health


£2,900,000 
  



Practice Managers 
  

Competency Framework (Phoenix agenda) 
  

£40,000 
  



Total 
  
 

£14,752,473 
  



  Note:

  *Enhanced allowances are available to those dentists operating from remote areas

  SCPMDE and PQEB, along with the National Board for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland (NBS), became part of NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 1 April. NES will promote a multi-disciplinary approach to training and education of healthcare staff and co-ordinate and oversee educational support.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why people with gluten intolerance, other than those diagnosed as having celiac disease, cannot obtain gluten-free products on an NHS prescription.

Malcolm Chisholm: Prescriptions for gluten-free products are not restricted to patients with coeliac disease. These items may be prescribed for any patients who have been diagnosed as suffering from established gluten enteropathies.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether arrangements have been put in place with Stirling Royal Infirmary should its services be required following the temporary closure of the Special Care Baby Unit at Perth Royal Infirmary.

Malcolm Chisholm: There is on-going contact between Forth Valley Acute Hospitals Trust and Tayside University Hospitals Trust to ensure a safe service for patients during this time.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to vary the selected list or prevent a medicine or class of medicines from being provided on the NHS and whether it has used such powers and, if so, when.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to allow or disallow any medicines or classes of drugs to be included on the prescribing list in Scotland in variance to the selected list in England.

Malcolm Chisholm: Schedule 10 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 lists those drugs and other substances which general practitioners may not prescribe on the NHS. Schedule 10 is known as The Selected List.

  Amendments to Schedule 10 are made by Statutory Instrument.

  The selected list was introduced in 1985 and extended in 1992 and it has been amended on a number of occasions. There have been two amendments since July 1999. NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2000 added Propecia to the list. The NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2001 removed nicotine replacement therapies from the list. Corresponding amendments were made to Schedule 10 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992 in England.

Hospitals

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what charging structure will be in place for car parking at the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and whether staff and medical students will be exempted from charges.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is a matter for Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust but any charges in place should be in accordance with national guidance. The department has begun a review of current car parking charge practice.

Housing

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the Glasgow Housing Association devolves the control of the houses being transferred from Glasgow City Council to smaller local housing associations.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Framework Document "Better Homes Stronger Communities" made it clear that a shared aim of the housing transfer was to promote local community empowerment, control and ownership. This was reinforced in both the Stage 1 and Stage 2 consultation documents. A network of local housing associations has been established across the city to be responsible for the day to day management of their housing.

  In addition, the Glasgow Housing Association will work with local housing organisations who wish to take on the ownership of their own homes if the majority of tenants in the area support this. A draft outline paper on the development of second stage transfers is currently out for consultation.

Housing

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3541 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 June 2001, when the transfer of Scottish Homes housing stock in the Central Scotland parliamentary region to other social landlords will take place.

Ms Margaret Curran: Proposals from Clyde Valley Housing Association for stock in Hamilton are currently with Scottish Homes Board for consideration and, subject to ministerial approval, should proceed to ballot in August. Subject to a successful ballot of tenants, it is proposed that they will transfer later this year.

  There are currently no transfer proposals for the remaining two small parcels of Scottish Homes’ stock within Central Scotland parliamentary region.

Housing

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3541 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 June 2001, what plans it has to ensure the provision of independent professional advice to tenants in the Central Scotland parliamentary region as to their rights in relation to the transfer of Scottish Homes housing stock to other social landlords.

Ms Margaret Curran: Scottish Homes, in line with its published procedures, will ensure that an independent adviser is made available to advise all tenants on all facets of the potential landlord(s) proposals for the houses.

Housing

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3541 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 June 2001, what plans it has to publicise its  Code of Practice for Tenant Participation in Stock Transfers during any transfer of Scottish Homes properties to other social landlords in the Central Scotland parliamentary region.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Code of Practice for Tenant Consultation in Stock Transfers will be re-issued by the Scottish Executive in August 2002 to local authorities, Registered Social Landlords and other interested parties as part of the guidance for the implementation of the tenant participation provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

Organ Donation

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are on the NHS Organ Donor Register in each NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is set out in the following table.

  


NHS Board 
  

Number of People Registered 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

71,616 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

55,724 
  



Borders 
  

23,774 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

22,038 
  



Forth Valley 
  

49,489 
  



Fife 
  

64,102 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

193,486 
  



Grampian 
  

110,367 
  



Highland 
  

34,528 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

67,331 
  



Lothian 
  

174,436 
  



Orkney 
  

3,127 
  



Shetland 
  

3,797 
  



Tayside 
  

92,578 
  



Western Isles 
  

342 
  



Total 
  

966,735

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers the role of pre-school staff to be.

Cathy Jamieson: The role of pre-school staff is to help children to get the best possible start in life by promoting their all-round development during their crucial formative years.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers pre-schools centres as being primarily concerned with education or childcare.

Cathy Jamieson: Pre-school centres are considered to be primarily concerned with providing an integrated service of education and childcare. These two important services are considered to be interdependent and mutually supportive.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in what direction it plans to move pre-school education and what work is being undertaken to shape the future of pre-school education.

Cathy Jamieson: The Executive plans to continue to work with the local authority, private and voluntary sectors to improve the quality of pre-school education. The new arrangements for integrated inspection by the Commission for the Regulation of Care and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education will be an important part of this.

  The Executive has been working to improve the quality of all parts of the early years workforce, and recently allocated an additional £7.2 million for the financial years 2002-04, to support workforce expansion and development in the sector.

  The Executive will continue to promote better links between pre-school education and other agencies, so as to provide better integrated services for children, and will look at better programmes and facilities for supporting children's physical development and movement.

  The Executive is also working with Learning and Teaching Scotland and others to improve children’s transition from pre-school education to primary school, and to review the use of ICT in pre-school education.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether pre-school providers are currently fulfilling their aims and delivering a good service; if so, why it is removing the requirement for the inclusion of nursery teachers as addressed in its Guidance on Involvement of Teachers in Pre-school Education and, if not, in what way it is moving pre-school provision in a new direction and what any new targets and aims are.

Cathy Jamieson: Pre-school providers are delivering a good service but, as in most services, there remains room for improvement. The Guidance on the Involvement of Teachers in Pre-School Education offers advice on the provision of a more flexible and user focussed service which makes best use of the skills of all staff to meet the diverse needs of children and their parents.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what evidence or research it based its proposal to remove the requirement for the inclusion of nursery teachers in pre-school provision as addressed in its Guidance on Involvement of Teachers in Pre-school Education.

Cathy Jamieson: The Guidance on Involvement of Teachers in Pre-school Education was drawn up with the help of a working group of practitioners in the field. The working group considered the published research database, individual case studies, research carried out in America and evidence from inspections carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education. They also considered initial results from other research such as the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education project.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what factors contributed to the differential in quality identified in the recent HM Inspectorate of Education report, Standards and Quality in Scottish Pre-school Education 1997-2001 and in Early Education and Childcare Workforce Survey Final Report which highlighted that local authority nursery schools performed consistently and substantially better in the quality of learning experiences and that 13% of their staff have a teaching degree compared with 6% in the private and 5% in the voluntary centres and how it will ensure that quality will not be diminished under the new staffing guidelines.

Cathy Jamieson: Local authorities have had a long history in the provision of pre-school education through nursery schools and classes. By contrast, most private and voluntary providers have only recently begun providing funded pre-school education. The report found that overall standards in the private and voluntary sectors have improved during the last four years. This is encouraging for new players in provision. The report did not define the percentages of staff in sectors who had teaching qualifications and no causal link could be drawn from the qualifications of staff in the different sectors.

  The new staffing guidelines should allow all providers – whether in the private, voluntary or local authority sectors – to deploy teams of staff in a way which uses their individual expertise and enhances the quality of children’s experience. All pre-school education providers will be inspected annually under the New National Care Standards by the Commission for the Regulation of Care. The Commission for the Regulation of Care will also be undertaking joint inspections with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, in order to assess the quality of pre-school education. These inspections should ensure that quality is not diminished under the new staffing guidelines.

Pre-School Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why it is making the changes set out in its Guidance on Involvement of Teachers in Pre-school Education  on staffing requirements for pre-school provision and what the effect on the provision and delivery of the 3-5 curriculum will be as a result of these changes.

Cathy Jamieson: The Guidance on the Involvement of Teachers in Pre-School Education , which I launched in January this year, does not make any changes to staffing requirements. The guidance discusses how teachers and all staff involved in pre-school provision can contribute to the quality of children’s experience by working as a team. The key message of the guidance is that local authorities now have the flexibility to decide how best to involve teachers in the delivery of pre-school education.

Prescription Charges

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why all people diagnosed as gluten intolerant do not qualify for exemption from prescription charges.

Malcolm Chisholm: Exemption from prescription charges on medical grounds is restricted to patients who suffer from one of the qualifying conditions listed in NHS Regulations. The Executive's priority is to focus assistance on those who are least able to pay, so that no-one need be deterred from obtaining prescribed medication on financial grounds.

Schools

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has responded to any concerns of parents expressed in May 2002 on the framework of, and questions to be used in, the School Census September 2002.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) has received a number of representations regarding the Scottish Exchange of Educational Data (ScotXed) project. Most of these representations have been queries from parents asking for clarification on issues of data confidentiality and the collection of information on ethnic background and national identity of pupils, in the 2002 Scottish School Census.

  SEED has provided explanations on the importance of collecting accurate information on the ethnic background and national identity of all pupils in order to meet the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. Although SEED encourages all pupils and parents to provide this information, SEED also appreciates the sensitivity of collecting this information and has provided an option for pupils and parents to state that they do not wish to disclose this information.

  SEED has given assurances that pupil level information to be transferred through ScotXed as part of the September 2002 School Census will be dealt with in strict accordance with the Data Protection Act and with the National Statistics Code of Practice.

Scottish Environmental Protection Agency

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who the board members are of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency; what the background is of each member, and what attributes led to their appointment to the board.

Allan Wilson: Members of the board of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are appointed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 4 of schedule 6 to the Environment Act 1995. This states that "in making appointments, Scottish Ministers shall have regard to the desirability of appointing persons who have knowledge or experience in some matter relevant to the functions of SEPA." It is also important to have representation from local government and the business sector as stakeholders in SEPA.

  The information requested on individual board members is contained in the following table.

  Scottish Environment Protection Agency

  


Board Member 
  

Residence 
  

Background 
  

Attributes/Skills 
  



Mr Kenneth Collins (Chairman) 
  

East Kilbride 
  

Former MEP for Strathclyde East; former Chairman of the 
  European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and 
  Consumer Protection Committee. 
  

Commitment to environmental issues; committee skills. 
  



Mrs Deirdre Hutton CBE (Deputy Chairman) 
  

Kelso 
  

Chairman, Scottish Consumer Council 
  

Extensive committee experience; wide knowledge of NGOs 
  



Mr David Hughes Hallett 
  

Edinburgh 
  

Member NGO; Chartered Surveyor 
  

Knowledge of a broad range of environmental issues; professional 
  expertise. 
  



Cllr Cormick McChord 
  

Stirling 
  

Councillor 
  

Committee and management experience; local government experience. 
  



Mr Frederick Edwards LVO RD 
  

Penicuik 
  

Voluntary Worker 
  

Knowledge of the voluntary sector; links with a wide range 
  of NGOs; awareness of SEPA’s role. 
  



Cllr William Howatson 
  

Montrose 
  

Journalist; Councillor 
  

Knowledge of agricultural issues. 
  



Cllr Susan Clark 
  

Cupar 
  

Councillor 
  

Committee experience; knowledge of local environmental 
  health issues. 
  



Professor Stanley Dagg 
  

Bridge of Weir 
  

Visiting Professor, Glasgow Caledonian University 
  

Experience in waste management; understanding of the role 
  of SEPA. 
  



Professor Brian Clark 
  

Aberdeen 
  

Professor, Aberdeen University 
  

Expertise in research and academic issues. 
  



Mr William Furness 
  

Edinburgh 
  

Chief Executive, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce & Enterprise 
  

Corporate management experience; business sector perspective. 
  



Mr Nicholas Kuenssberg 
  

Glasgow 
  

Company Chairman 
  

Corporate management skills; business sector perspective. 
  



Mrs Patricia Henton 
  

Edinburgh 
  

Chief Executive, SEPA 
  

Chief Executive.

Scottish Executive Staff

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers the First Minister has to recruit and appoint civil servants.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers the First Minister has to discipline and terminate the employment of civil servants.

Peter Peacock: Powers in relation to personnel issues such as the recruitment and appointment of staff outside the Senior Civil Service, discipline and the termination of employment of civil servants are delegated to the First Minister under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992. These powers are exercised on the First Minister’s behalf by civil servants in accordance with the rules and principles set out in the Civil Service Management Code and in the  Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Code .

Sewel Motions

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Sewel motions it has lodged with the Parliament in each year since 1999 and how many of these were passed.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive lodged five Sewel motions in 1999, 11 in 2000, 13 in 2001 and four to date this year. All of these motions were approved by the Scottish Parliament.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how much of the £854,067 fee paid to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Limited was paid to (a) Flour City and (b) contractors on behalf of Flour City.

Sir David Steel: All of the £854,067 was paid directly to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Limited.